An investigation of the theme of Transparency in the Canadian Federal Government. Non-partisan: Power corrupts and Absolute Power corrupts absolutely. Our model: the muckracker journalists.

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Learning to think outside the box

Conform with its pro-business (actually pro-corporation) ideology, the Harper government has banned further ownership of Canadian oil industry assets by State owned foreign entities. This goes down well with Harper's core constituencies but does it answer the really important questions we, as a society, should be asking ourselves at this point in time?

Is foreign corporation ownership more benign than foreign state ownership? If so, why? Neoconservatives have argued that the state always does things badly, that turning over everything to private (in reality, corporate) enterprise equates with freedom, with spreading economic benefits more equally: the "trickle down effect", "a rising tide lifts all boats".. But are these ideas true? Are they confirmed by fact? Reality does not seem to confirm these ideas. Gaps between rich and poor both within and between societies grow, demanding more spending on security measures, the military and the attendant suppression or limitation of civil rights. Scandinavia with its Social Democracy inspired "welfare state", actually allows its citizens more - not less - upward mobility than is now possible in neocon dominated America. The American dream is actually more realisable in "socialist" Scandinavia than in "capitalist" (actually corporatist) America!!

One definition of fascism..

fascism: control or seizure of the State by the corporate elite

In our humble opinion, we should be asking a different set of questions. And questions are critically important, it turns out: you can't get right answers unless you learn to ask the right questions..

For example, a "good" question might be, what type of development do we need?

Renewable energy versus fossil fuel and nuclear energy? Decentralized energy networks / localized networks of production and consumption? - there is mounting evidence, I think, for those whose minds are not ideologically closed that we have reached a point where DISeconomies of scale are more important than economies of scales in many areas. Democratic, participatory, community based / community initiated / community driven development? - such development would seem more in accord with the values that occidentals give lip service to: democracy, entrepreneurship, upward social mobility for the little man..